The Worst Witch Saves the Day Again
by Sophie H
Summary: Mildred begins her fourth year at Cackle's Academy, resolved to no longer be the worst witch in the school. But something is not right: girls have begun to disappear. Can Mildred and her friends figure out why and find the culprit before it's too late? Will eventually contain mild femslash.


**_The Worst Witch Saves the Day Again_ by Sophie H. **

**Rating: T (for mild violence and adult themes)**

**Pairings: Will eventually contain Miss Hardbroom/Miss Drill femslash, but this will not be the focus of the story, nor will it be explicit. May contain some Mildred/Charlie later. **

**I apologise for the title; it is liable to change. Reviews are motivational and greatly appreciated. I hope you enjoy! :) **

* * *

It really was a beautiful day, Mildred thought, as she glided towards the gloomy grey walls and turrets of Cackle's Academy. She couldn't wait to see Maude and Enid and the others again. It was difficult to believe that they were fourth years now - only two more years and they would be full witches. Mildred couldn't imagine a life outside of the school walls; the very idea was both exciting and terrifying.

"Mildred! Mildred!"

Mildred looked down towards the schoolyard: everywhere girls, dressed in black and grey, stood and talked to friends, or flitted about like bats on their brooms, laughing and calling out greetings.

"Millie, over here!" The voice, Maude's, called again. Mildred spotted her friend among the crowd, waving madly and grinning at her. Mildred took her hand off her broom to wave back and nearly lost her balance. Trying to right herself, she grabbed the broom handle and pulled; the broom tilted sharply to the left. Behind her, she heard Tabby yowl, and then suddenly the broom jolted, jerked, and stopped flying altogether. Mildred let out a scream as the ground hurtled towards her. She squeezed her eyes shut, clung to the broom handle with sweaty hands, and yanked it violently upwards.

"Up and away. Come on, broom, up and away!" she said desperately. To her surprised relief, her descent began to slow, and she slowly opened her eyes, only to find herself inches away from a potted tree. She tried to swerve, but it was too late. The pot teetered for an instance on its edge, then fell with a resounding crash, and Mildred found herself in a heap made up of tree, pot, broom, luggage, and a very irritated cat.

"Mildred, are you alright?" Enid asked from above her, while Maude offered Mildred her hand and helped her to her feet.

"Fine, I think. Oh, I'm sorry, Tabby. Here, I'll get you out of that bask-"

"Pray, _what _is going on here?" All three girls jumped, then slowly turned around to face the owner of the authoritative voice.

"I'm sorry, Miss Hardbroom," said Mildred. "I lost control of my broom. I really don't know how it happened."

"Mildred Hubble," Miss Hardbroom drawled wryly. "Why am I not surprised? Wreaking havoc and destroying school property before the term has even truly started. I must say you have rather outdone yourself this time. Detention after assembly today. Report to the Potions classroom at four o'clock sharp."

"Yes, Miss Hardbroom," said Mildred, looking at her feet. When she lifted her eyes, Miss Hardbroom had vanished.

"That was just mean," said Maude indignantly. "It's only the first day back, you'd think she'd show a little sympathy!"

"I wouldn't expect anything of the sort. H.B. never shows any sympathy ever. She didn't even check to see if you were okay, Millie!" said Enid.

Mildred sighed. She had hoped against hope that maybe, now that she was a fourth year, she would no longer be the worst witch in the school.

* * *

Miss Drill happily inhaled the fresh scents of the pine forest. Her legs ached rewardingly from cycling hard and uphill, and the wind ruffled her short hair. She'd missed this: the rare days at Cackle's when the weather was perfect and she could go outside and run or walk or cycle and escape the gloomy confines of the castle for a couple of hours. She'd had a wonderful camping holiday with Serge, and although she was already beginning to feel the pang of not seeing him again for ten weeks, she was looking forward to the start of term, to attempting fruitlessly to get the girls interested in sports and trying not to laugh at the insane antics of her fellow staff-members.

She rounded a bend in the path and passed into a small clearing. Squinting upwards, she found that she could just make out the Academy's tallest tower over the treetops. She returned her gaze to the path and, as she did, noticed a flicker of movement in her peripheral vision. She turned to look at it head on, but the surrounding forest was as empty as before. A shiver trickled down her spine and she gripped the handlebars tightly, peddling with more force.

She had just left the clearing when a sharp crack, like the snapping of a branch, startled her from behind. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she slowed, drew to a halt, and turned around.

"Who's there?" she called. No one responded. The birds twittering and cavorting in the treetops seemed unusually loud.

Another crack, this time from the forest to her right. She jumped, and spun abruptly to face the direction of the noise. Again, she saw nothing but trees. Closing her eyes, she strained her ears, trying to catch any trace of movement. At length she became aware of a voice speaking quietly; she couldn't make out the words, but her time teaching at Cackle's had taught her to recognise their strange, lilting rhythm: a spell.

Before she could react, the world turned dark and she felt herself falling towards the ground.

* * *

Mildred's morning classes had passed in a haze of trying desperately not to make any mistakes or do anything that might get her into even more trouble. By the time lunch came around, she was longing for the holidays again.

"Cheer up, Millie," Jadu said as they walked out of Chanting together. "It's only the first day back. You have all year to get back on H.B.'s good side."

"If she even has a good side," Mildred said gloomily.

"It's good to see Miss Bat again anyway," said Jadu, in an attempt to change the subject. "Miss Crotchett was alright, but I missed all the Mongolian chanting. Oh, look! I think I see Enid and Ruby." Jadu pointed towards the staircase, where Enid and Ruby were standing, deep in conversation with Fenella and Griselda.

" ... Yes, near the greenhouse. We found it when we skived off Miss Drill's class this morning," Griselda was saying.

"We have to explore it!" said Enid.

"Explore what?" asked Jadu curiously, as she and Mildred approached.

"Fenny and Gris found a secret passageway," whispered Ruby excitedly. "It's behind the Potions classroom, near the greenhouse."

"Millie, don't you have detention in the Potions classroom this afternoon?" Enid asked pointedly.

"Yes, but I can't help you. I'm sorry, but I'm in enough trouble as it is."

"Oh, come on, Millie! You wouldn't have to do anything _really _bad. We just need you to distract H.B., to make sure she stays in the classroom while we're exploring," pleaded Enid.

"H.B. won't know you're helping us," pointed out Fenella. "Just ask her a question about homework or something. Anyway, I doubt she'll want to leave you alone with all the Potions equipment."

Mildred hesitated.

"Please," said Ruby, grinning beseechingly at her.

"Well, okay then. I suppose I can help, as long as I don't have to break any rules."

"Extreme!"

* * *

"Has anyone seen Miss Drill?" Miss Hardbroom asked irritably, striding briskly into the staff room.

Miss Cackle paused with a forkful of cheesecake halfway to her mouth. "I'm afraid not, Constance. She wasn't here for the fifth years' P.E. lesson this morning. I suspect she's probably running late."

"By four hours!"

"Well, yes ..."

Miss Bat looked up from spooning salt into her tea cup. "She probably got lost in the delights of summer: clean, fresh air; sunshine; daffodils-"

"It's winter," said Miss Hardbroom testily. She sat down at the table and poured herself a cup of tea, ignoring Miss Bat's scowl.

"Is everything alright, Constance?" Miss Cackle asked, putting down her fork and giving Miss Hardbroom a concerned look.

"No, Miss Cackle, everything is most certainly _not _alright. Aside from the feckless irresponsibility of a certain staff member, who allowed the entire fifth year cohort to run rampant over the school grounds, it appears Mildred Hubble is up to her old tricks again. She actually managed to break a tree this morning."

"One of the trees Mr Blossom's been planting as part of the school's new gardening scheme? I thought you disapproved of it," said Miss Cackle.

"That is quite beside the point!"

"Don't you think you're perhaps being a little hard on Mildred? It's only the first day of term after all."

"Nonsense. Mildred's a fourth year now. It's about time she learned to be responsible."

With a resigned sigh, Miss Cackle speared her last bite of cheesecake and put it in her mouth. Swallowing, she turned her gaze first on Miss Bat, now happily sipping her presumably very salty tea, and then on her deputy headmistress, sitting straight-backed, lips-pursed. Miss Cackle pushed back her chair and rose from the table.

"I'm going to see if I can track down Imogen," she said with another sigh before leaving the room.

* * *

Miss Drill opened her eyes and blinked groggily up at the shadowy ceiling. She frowned, trying to recall where she was, and why she was lying awkwardly on a cold stone floor with her hands behind her back. Wriggling her fingers, she realized with a jolt of alarm that her wrists were bound tightly together with thick rope. With a groan of effort, she sat up and surveyed her surroundings.

She was in a tiny room, empty but for a single wooden stool and a small wooden clock, mounted on the wall in front of her. Its quiet ticking echoed ominously in the small space. After a moment, she stood up and circled the room, clumsily trying and failing to open the door with her bound hands.

Who on earth would want to kidnap me? she wondered, looking around desperately for an escape. Her eyes passed over the clock and she paused, then walked over to it. It was an old clock, with a solid glass face and, she observed, only loosely fixed to the wall. She nudged it with her forehead and it moved easily. She nudged it with more force, twice more, before it finally came loose, falling noisily to the floor. The glass face shattered.

Miss Drill paused, listening intently for any indication that someone had heard. Hearing nothing, she crouched down next to the pile of broken glass and pieces of clockwork and carefully picked up a long glass shard. She slowly worked it up between her hands and began sawing at the rope which bound them. After what felt like a very long time, she yanked her hands apart and the weakened rope snapped.

She climbed to her feet and made her way to the wooden stool. She gazed at it thoughtfully for a second, then picked it up, and bracing it between her body and the wall, snapped off a leg. Gripping it tightly with both hands, she took up position next to the door. Whoever had dared to abduct her would have to return for her eventually.

When they did, she'd be waiting.

* * *

"Good luck, Millie!"

"Yeah, good luck! And don't let H.B. leave the classroom, or we're done for," said Ruby with a grin.

"Good luck to you too. Don't get lost in the passageway," Mildred replied, smiling at the four girls in front of her as they turned to head down the corridor towards the greenhouse.

"We won't. We're far too clever for that!" called Enid as they walked away. Mildred, half jealous and half relieved that she couldn't join them, waited until they were significantly ahead of her before heading down the corridor to the Potions classroom. She reached it, and taking a deep breath, knocked tentatively on the door.

"Come in, Mildred," Miss Hardbroom said from inside. Mildred went in, sitting down at a desk and taking out pencil and paper. Miss Hardbroom stood up and headed to the blackboard, where she conjured a piece of chalk and wrote:

_I must not disgrace the good name of Cackle's Academy nor destroy school property with my embarrassing displays of buffoonery._

"You will write this out five hundred times before dinner. If you do not finish, you will have to return to do so tomorrow evening," she said crisply. Holding back a scowl, Mildred picked up her pencil and began to write.

* * *

"I really can't find Imogen anywhere, Davina," Miss Cackle said, forehead crinkled with worry. "Surely she should have turned up by now."

"I wouldn't worry, Miss Cackle," replied Miss Bat, patting the older woman fondly on the cheek. "I'm sure she'll show up in time for dinner."

"I hope so, Davina. I hope so."

* * *

Mildred had written two hundred lines when a thump and the sound of running feet could be heard through the walls of the classroom. She looked sharply at Miss Hardbroom, who was rising to her feet.

"Wait! Don't go. I, um, have a, um, question. About the homework you gave us," she said quickly. Miss Hardbroom raised her eyebrows.

"Well?" she said, "Are you going to ask it, or do you merely wish to waste my time?"

"No, no. No. I'm going to ask it." Another pause. Miss Hardbroom's expression grew increasingly murderous.

"Um. I don't understand why the Puer Fiendi Causa potion requires stinging nettle. Wouldn't St John's Wort be better, since it does the same thing, but is more potent?"

Miss Hardbroom stared.

"I'm sorry," said Mildred, shamefaced. "It's a stupid question, I know."

"No." Miss Hardbroom cleared her throat. "No, Mildred, it's not." She looked as surprised as Mildred felt. "The problem with St John's Wort," she said, "is that it's _too _strong. Using it would-"

Loud footsteps from outside interrupted her. Frowning, Miss Hardbroom made as if to move towards the door.

"Wait! You can't go!" Mildred said desperately.

"Stay here," Miss Hardbroom instructed, ignoring her words and storming out of the classroom. Mildred hesitated, then walked over to the door and peered out. When Miss Hardbroom had reached the end of the corridor and walked outside, she followed at a run, making for the greenhouse. Rounding a corner, she found Miss Hardbroom frowning blackly at Maude, Ruby, Enid and Jadu, who were huddled together, filthy and staring guiltily at their feet. All except Enid, who met Miss Hardbroom's glower with a mildly puzzled smile. Behind them, Mildred saw, was a small, dark opening in the wall. Miss Hardbroom had just opened her mouth to speak, when a scuffling noise emerged from the passageway.

The four girls backed away, looking frightened. Miss Hardbroom quickly stepped in front of them, and raised her hands in preparation for casting a spell. The scuffling sounded again, louder now, and then, to Mildred's astonishment, Miss Drill emerged from the passageway's entrance, holding a large wooden stick, covered from head to toe in dirt, and looking as though she were about to pummel someone to death at any moment. The five girls edged away nervously; Miss Hardbroom crossed her arms and glared.

"What is the meaning of this?" she asked Miss Drill. Miss Drill started, stared first at Miss Hardbroom, then at the girls, and slowly lowered the wooden stick.

"Where am I?" she asked, bewildered.

* * *

"And so I hit him as hard as I could in the stomach and ran," Miss Drill finished. "But I have no idea who he was, or why he'd want to kidnap me."

"Or why he would choose to secrete you beneath Cackle's Academy of all places," said Miss Hardbroom darkly.

"It's all very concerning," said Miss Cackle.

"Very," agreed Miss Drill. "But I hope you ladies will excuse me. I've had a trying day and could use some rest."

"Of course, Imogen. We can discuss everything further tomorrow." Miss Cackle smiled warmly at her. Miss Drill smiled back as she stood up and walked slowly out of the room.

As soon as Miss Cackle could no longer hear her footsteps, she turned to Miss Hardbroom. "Constance, I'm going to ask you to keep an eye on Imogen for me. Just for the rest of this term. I really can't imagine why anyone would be trying to kidnap her, but if they've done so once, it's quite possible that they will again."

"I quite agree, Miss Cackle. And we certainly can't have her running off into the forest like she normally does either. She will simply have to confine her activities to school grounds."

"Yes, you're probably right. Poor Imogen, she won't like that at all."

"I'm afraid 'poor Imogen' is just going to have to put up with it. We can't have her being kidnapped again - it would be most disruptive."

* * *

The next morning at breakfast, Mildred glumly collected her bowl of semolina and made for the table where Maude and Enid were sitting. On the way she passed Clarice, sitting alone and staring blankly into her bowl. She frowned thoughtfully, wondering where Sybil could be. Probably Ethel had said something to upset her again. She was about to sit down opposite Enid, when the object of her thoughts moved to block her path.

"Look who it is," sneered Ethel; nose in the air, she crossed her arms. "Hubble Bubble: the worst witch in the school. Is it true that you actually managed to fly into a tree this morning?" She laughed nastily. Next to her, Drusilla smirked.

"Even if I am the worst witch in the school, at least I'm not a terrible sister," Mildred snapped. "Don't think I didn't notice that Sybil's not here. I bet it's because you said something awful to her."

To Mildred's shock, Ethel's eyes filled with tears. She turned away, before they spilled over, and walked quickly out of the dining room. Drusilla glared at Mildred before following her.

"What was that about? I've said loads worse things to her before," said Mildred, looking guiltily at Maude.

"Didn't you hear, Millie?" said Maude, wide-eyed. "Sybil Hallow never showed up at school this morning. No one knows where she is."

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED ... **


End file.
